February Newsletter

Investigating and Exploring Shadows

Today we had a shadow lab with Mrs. Law and used a flashlight to investigate how shadows change depending on where the light comes from.

Video Chat "How Can I Get My Child Gifted Services?"

Spirit Night

Free Parent Classes

Collecting 100 Cans of Food for the 100th Day!

Dear Parents,
We are fast approaching the 100th day of school- an event we have talked about since the first day of school. As a class, we have decided to collect 100 cans of food to donate to a local food pantry. On the 100th day we will count all the cans collected and see if we have reached our goal. Please help us by sending canned food donations on or before February 16, 2011. For our safety, please do not overload our backpacks with cans. If you would like to drop off cans that will not fit in a backpack, please feel free to leave the cans with our wonderful security assistant Nancy George in the main foyer.

Thank you for helping us to celebrate the 100th day and helping us to help others!

Mrs. Rose’s Kindergarten Friends

Do you have questions? I have answers:)

Parent Connection Workshop

Mark Your Calendar!
Make plans to attend the Virginia Beach City Public Schools’ Parent Connection conference on Saturday, January 29 from 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Landstown High School. The event is free and open to all parents and families in Virginia Beach. Parents will gain valuable insight and advice on a variety of parenting topics from some of the area’s most prominent doctors, financial counselors, child and family development experts, and educators. Please bring a “non-perishable food item for the Foodbank!

Among the “can’t miss” sessions are:

101 Ways to Stay Connected to Your Child (A Guide to Positive Discipline)
Dr. Katherine Kersey, Old Dominion University Professor of Early Childhood Education

Financial Literacy for Families
Karen Munden, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Educator
Virginia Cooperative Extension/ VA Tech – VA State

Moving Forward After the Diagnosis of Autism
Dr. John Harrington, Division Director of General Academic Pediatrics - Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters

Less Stress (More Fun) for Your Family
Molly Brown, Parent Educator - Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters

Surfing the Internet Safely for Family-Friendly Fun!
Janene Gorham, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Virginia Beach City Public Schools

Registration is not required for this family-friendly event. For additional information about Parent Connection, visit vbschools.com or contact Melissa McQuarrie, Director of Community Relations, at 263.1936.

I Have a Dream

An Alphabet Photo Project

The eye on the alphabet kit is one of my favorite projects that I've seen for kindergarteners. This kit was created by Leslie Law, our gifted resource teacher. Last year the alphabet books that my students created at home with their parents were amazing and the kindergarteners shared their projects in the foyer for the whole school to enjoy. This project is optional, but it is a worthwhile activity to do with your kindergartener and makes a sentimental memento. If you are a parent of a JBD student, an order form is being sent home in your child's folder today. If you are one of my other website followers and are interested, please email me for more information or email Leslie Law at leslielaw@thelearninglens.com Don't forget to check out http://thelearninglens.com/ to see the creative examples of letters found in everday objects. If you are a JBD student and are unable to pay full price for a kit, please email me for alternative prices/options.

Below are some excellent books to read as your child is completing the project. Have fun!

Parents Please Help Us to Go Green!

Hi Parents- we are having a great year and things are running so smoothly. I just have one little favor- have you signed up for emails about school news? I have 42 students in my class and 18 of our families have signed up to receive JBD school information electronically via email. It would be so fantastic, amazing, super, awesome, exciting, thrilling etc if all of my parents with an email address could sign up to receive information electronically. Sending home information in the FFO folders uses a lot of paper and it is very expensive for our school and our school system, not to meantion creating more waste for our Earth. Please consider receiving information electronically- you will be saving the precious time of our our staff and volunteers, saving precious resources, and saving money for our schools that could be used in another way. Thank you!
Please click here to sign up for electronic information.

Fitness Night is Tonight!

Don't forget fitness night tonight at 6:30. Come climb the rock wall, learn about martial arts, yoga, and play 4 square!

Amazing Grace

This week we are learning about Martin Luther King Jr and how brave he was. Today we watched "Amazing Grace" on bookflix that tells the story of a young girl named Grace who realizes she can be anything she wants even of others tell her she can't.

Number Stories

Today in computer lab we practiced number stories using "Mighty Math Zoo Zillions".

Learning to Visualize and Make Mental Images

We have begun our unit on visualizing. Visualizing is important for reading comprehension and for reading strategies. Below is a newsletter about how you can help your child practice at home. I did not write this beautiful newsletter- it was written by Jennifer Jones at www.hellofirstgrade.org. Teacher Note: I did have to convert the adobe file to a jpeg file at zamzar.com. Thanks!


These are the books we will be reading to practice visualizing in our classroom.

Spirit Night!

Help support our school!

B-I-N-G-O

Today we played Bingo and we had so much fun! Who ever thought this classic game would be such a thrill for kindergarteners?